This invention relates to kinetic analysis in general, and more particularly to an improved method and apparatus for automatically carrying out classical kinetic chemistries on an ultra-micro scale at high rates and low cost.
In the serum chemistry art, various classical kinetic chemistries for performing kinetic analysis have been developed over the years. Typical of these tests are the tests for the determination of enzymes known as LDH, ALKP, SGOT, SGPT, and CPK. In general, each of these tests require mixing two reagents, along with a diluent, with a serum sample to be analyzed and, after a period of incubation, analyzing the kinetic chemistry by observing the photo-absorbence of the mixture over a predetermined period and calculating the rate of change of such absorbence. Various automated devices have been developed to speed up this analysis. In particular, automatic apparatus for transferring the reacting mixture to be observed to a photometer has been developed. The various types of apparatus available generally require a certain amount of the work be done by the operator and few can be truly considered completely automatic. In addition, prior art methods generally fail to provide adequate temperature control. Moreover, these prior art automatic analyzers generally work with relatively large quantities of sample and reagent thereby increasing the cost of running the test. Apart from the cost involved, the availability of adequate quanties of serum for analysis is sometimes a factor, for example, in the case of small infants. The photometric apparatus in these devices is limited in sensitivity and the prior art methods of computing absorbence give rise to various types of errors. Furthermore, the speed at which they can process samples is relatively low thereby further increasing the cost of running tests.
In view of these various deficiencies in prior art analyzing apparatus, it is clear that there is a need for automatic apparatus of this type which can quickly, efficiently, inexpensively and accurately carry out a large plurality of the different tests which must be performed.